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About Or Hadash

Or Hadash is a vibrant and diverse community that is committed to promoting the many facets of our evolving Jewish civilization. We strive to create a warm and welcoming home where all members are accepted and valued. Through our commitment to the principles of Reconstructionist Judaism, we promote and encourage opportunities for study, prayer, cultural and artistic expression, and acts of tikkun olam, or repairing the world.

We offer weekly Shabbat services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, a dynamic religious school for students from pre-K through tenth grade, a full bar/bat mitzvah and confirmation program, weekly Torah study, holiday services, and a wide range of opportunities for learning, socializing, volunteering, and social action.

Or Hadash’s home is the historic Fairwold Estate just off Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington, PA, Montgomery County. Our community prides itself on being informal, comfortable, and supportive of a wide range of religious backgrounds, practices, and beliefs. Under the leadership of Rabbi Joshua Waxman and our Religious School Director, Barbara Weisman, our congregation continues to grow while maintaining the warmth and intimacy that are its hallmarks.

Who We Are

Reconstructionists understand that belonging to the Jewish people comes before behaving or believing, and Or Hadash reflects the diversity of the American Jewish community. We welcome interfaith couples, and hold that conversion is unnecessary for the child of one Jewish parent, when that person is raised and educated as a Jew. We welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people and their life partners and families.

Our building is wheelchair-accessible and we make every reasonable effort to actively include Jews with physical, sensory, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, their families and life partners, in all aspects of congregational life. Members come from nontraditional as well as traditional households, looking for a personal and participatory Jewish experience. When people feel that they belong to a Jewish community, they are more comfortable expressing the behaviors and exploring the inner beliefs that identify them as Jews.

Vision Statement - Or Hadash strives to be a dynamic and innovative community that inspires us to deepen our connections to Judaism and to each other through tefillah (prayer), limmud (learning) and tikkun olam (repairing of the world). We aim to achieve these goals in an atmosphere of mutual respect and intellectual integrity that welcomes everyone from all backgrounds. Through shared values and the egalitarian and progressive principles of Reconstructionist Judaism, we aim to evolve spiritually and intellectually as individuals and as a sacred community.